This invention relates to an apparatus for deodorizing oil and similar material and comprises a column, an inlet duct for the material to be treated which opens in an upper part of the column, means for supplying a treatment fluid to a lower part of the column, a gas discharge tube in the top part of the column to be connected to an exhaust device, and an outlet duct for the treated material.
There are deodorizing apparatus which treat oil continuously and which are generally part of a more sophisticated installation. Such an apparatus is normally preceded by an equipment for performing other treatments, notably heating and deacrating, and it is normally followed by an apparatus which is used for further treatments, notably for cooling and finishing.
An installation comprised of a set of such apparatus and of a continuous-working deodorizing apparatus, performs a complete continuous treatment. However, the continuous operation in the deodorizing apparatus has the drawback that oil particles can escape an efficient treatment in the apparatus, no matter what dispositions are taken to avoid a particle escaping the treatment.
As even a minute percentage of untreated particles is enough to make the oil unfit, the continuous-working deodorizing apparatus must include complex means which should normally insure a complete treatment of the oil with all the particles thereof. Such complex means do however make the operation of the apparatus less easy and do away with the flexibility required of the installation for the changing of the material to be treated.
Those deodorizing apparatus which do not operate continuously are of simpler construction and insure a treatment of all the particles, but they cut-off or interrupt the continuous flow of the material through the over-all installations of which they are part.